Pàgines

dilluns, 27 de febrer de 2012

Austal said today that the U.S. Navy has exercised contract options
calling for the construction of the two additional Joint High Speed
Vessels (JHSVs) worth an added $320 million. The vessels are the eighth
and ninth JHSVs ordered by the U.S. Navy in the potentially 10-ship
program now valued at $1.45 billion.

As prime contractor, Austal was awarded the construction contract for
the first 103 meter JHSV in November 2008, with options for up to nine
additional vessels between 2009 and 2013 with a total value of $1.6
billion. All 10 vessels are to be built at Austal’s Mobile, AL
shipyard, which now has secured shipbuilding work until mid-2016
according to Austal.

The first vessel, USNS Spearhead (JHSV 1), is scheduled for builder’s
sea trials in March and will be operated by Military Sealift Command.
JHSV 2 and JHSV 3 are also under construction and another six JHSVs have
now been ordered. The tenth and final contract option is scheduled to
be exercised within 12 months, according to Austal.

In other Austal news, the company recently christened a second
Independence-variant 127 meter Littoral Combat Ship for the US Navy with
the Coronado, or LCS 4, now preparing for builder’s trials.
The US Navy confirmed the construction of the first two of potentially
10 LCSs in December 2010 and March 2011. Austal says dditional options
are expected to be awarded in the near future.

diumenge, 26 de febrer de 2012

The Indian Defense Ministry called in the representatives of
Dassault France and handed over a Letter of Intent to them Tuesday
afternoon, in the process selecting the company to supply 126 Rafale fighters to the Indian Air Force over the next ten years.

1) The first variant is that used for the French Air Force – a
multi-role fighter aircraft that has been successfully proven in combat
in support of operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and recently in Libya.
This variant was demonstrated in India in air shows over the last 10
years.

2) The second variant is in service with the French Navy and has been
operated from French aircraft carriers. This variant was also
demonstrated extensively to the Indian Navy during visits by the French
aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.

3) The third variant of the Rafale aircraft is its nuclear capable
version, in operational service with the Force de Frappe. This variant
can be armed with the nuclear-tipped ASMP-A missiles.

The details of the contract will now be finalized between the Defense
Ministry and representatives of Dassault over the next couple of
months. Essentially, 18 aircraft will be supplied in fly away condition
from France, and the remainder will be built in India. The Indian
manufacturing agency will be HAL, Bangalore, which has had an extensive
relationship with French aerospace companies since the 1950’s.

The contract will have options to increase the numbers of these
fighters to be inducted into service from the 126 to likely 200 in the
future. The Indian Navy has been patiently waiting in the wings for this
contract to emerge, as in its estimation the Rafale naval fighter
aircraft has the capability to be a game changer in the Indian Ocean
region. Operating from Indian aircraft carriers likely to be inducted in
the future, the reach of the Indian Navy would be enhanced as never
before, both tactically and strategically. The commonality of this
fighter aircraft in the Air Force and Navy would also ensure synergies
in the Air-Sea doctrine the Indian armed forces are putting in place.

MUOS is a next-generation narrowband tactical communications system
designed to improve communications for U.S. forces on the move. MUOS
will provide military users simultaneous voice, video and data
capability by leveraging 3G mobile communications technology.

Born from the need for stable, 24/7 ship-to-shore communication that
could be successful regardless of environments and geographical
conditions, the Navy is responsible for providing narrowband satellite
communication for the Department of Defense.

"MUOS' top requirements include capacity, coverage and link
availabilities. It will provide 24 hours a day, seven days a week global
coverage," said Navy Capt. Paul Ghyzel, MUOS program manager. "The
ability for a warfighter to make a telephone call over a MUOS terminal
and send data at 10 times more capacity than they can now will be a
significant improvement."

For the Navy MUOS team, many of whom have spent years on the program,
the successful launch is just the beginning of work to come. "We are
very excited to see this milestone today. It's the end of one phase and
the beginning of another," said Navy Cmdr. Jeff King, a MUOS systems
engineer who worked on the program for three years.

King explained that upon separation from the launch vehicle the
satellite will stay in a temporary orbital slot for initial testing.

"The satellite will spend the next several months in its geostationary
orbit and be thoroughly checked out by the combined government and
contractor team before being turned over for operational use."

Operational use, also known as initial operational capability, for the
first MUOS satellite is expected in summer 2012. Control of the
satellite will then be turned over to the Naval Satellite Operations
Command in Point Mugu, Calif.

Ultimately, the MUOS constellation will consist of four satellites and
an on-orbit spare. The system also includes four ground stations
strategically located around the globe, which provide worldwide coverage
and the ability to connect users wherever they are. The ground system
transports data, manages the worldwide network and controls the
satellites.

With today's narrowband communication system, users have to be stationary with an antenna up and pointed toward a satellite.

"With MUOS they'll be able to move around the battlespace," said King.
"They'll be able to communicate to users on the other side of a mountain
or the other side of the world."

Beyond providing continuous communication for all branches of the U.S.
military, Navy provided space-based narrowband capability also ensures
reliable worldwide coverage for national emergency assistance, disaster
response and humanitarian relief.

The MUOS constellation is expected to achieve full operational
capability in 2015, extending narrowband availability well past 2025.

Today's launch was originally scheduled for Feb. 16 and again Feb. 22,
both canceled and rescheduled due to unfavorable weather conditions.

The program is managed by the Navy's Program Executive Office for Space
Systems, Chantilly, Va., and its Communications Satellite Program Office
in San Diego.

dimecres, 22 de febrer de 2012

We’re rapidly approaching the thirtieth anniversary of the
Falklands War (April to June 1982), which saw the British military
reclaim the United Kingdom’s remote South Atlantic island possessions
from Argentine invaders.

Like nature, power politics abhors a vacuum. It’s probably no
coincidence that Buenos Aires is ramping up its demands for the islands
as Britain’s capacity to re-conquer them dwindles. Economically stagnant
Argentina desperately wants to tap the natural resources found in the
waters and seabed adjacent to the Falklands. A recent series of oil
discoveries – most recently in the “Sea Lion” field eighty miles north
of the islands – has spurred talk of a “black gold rush” in the South
Atlantic. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has
reproached London for exhausting “Argentinean natural resources” while
vowing to “get [the islands] back.” Meanwhile, Britain’s shrinking
expeditionary capability has reduced officials like Brig. Bill Aldridge,
commander of British forces in the South Atlantic, to insisting that it
matters little whether the British military can recover the Falklands;
it will never lose them in the first place. Declares Aldridge, “I am not expecting to hand the islands over to anybody and therefore put us in a position to have to retake the islands.”

Maybe hope really is a strategy!

The latest kerfuffle has caught some attention beyond Argentina and
the British Isles. You can bet strategists in China are monitoring
events in the South Atlantic closely. These are people who do their
homework. They afforded the 1982 conflict close scrutiny, finding much
to commend and condemn on both sides, and many lessons to learn. A few
years ago, my colleague Lyle Goldstein read their commentary on the
Falklands and wrote an article
documenting their findings. It only makes sense that Beijing would
regard the campaign as a source of guidance for contemporary strategy.
Just look at the map – a Western sea power fought a short war to reverse
a weaker regional power’s seizure of islands it considered sovereign
territory. Geography compelled the extra-regional power to stage
military operations across thousands of miles of ocean, where the local
power enjoyed such advantages as proximity to the combat theater,
abundant manpower and resources, and intimate familiarity with the
surroundings.

Sound familiar?

What lessons about strategy, tactics, and force structure is Beijing
likely to derive from the British experiences then and now? Lyle’s
article is worth reading in its entirety, but here’s the bumper sticker
for the guidance China takes from the conflict: a local power can
overcome a stronger outside power if it is more willing than its
antagonist to bear the costs and hazards of war, makes good use of its
“home field advantage,” and acquires certain specialized weaponry in
adequate numbers.

For example, Chinese commentators highlight the battle damage
inflicted by Argentine Super Étendard fighter jets firing Exocet
anti-ship cruise missiles. When I taught firefighting and damage control
in the 1990s, we started off each new class by showing a film from the
Falklands. My favorite part was when the skipper of the sunken HMS Sheffield
recalled thinking it was “slightly bad news” when he heard an explosion
and turned to see one of the ship’s gun mounts spinning around in the
air high over the ship. Monty Python humor aside, the death of the Sheffield confirmed that sea-skimming missiles could evade modern shipboard air defenses and wreak lethal damage. Whether this inspired
the People’s Liberation Army Navy to premise its anti-ship tactics on
“saturation attacks” that overwhelm a fleet’s defenses is an open
question. More likely, such encounters reaffirmed tacticians’
preexisting preference for cruise missiles as an implement of war. Had
Argentine aviators possessed more than a few Exocets, conclude Chinese
observers, the outcome of the conflict could have been far different.

Or, there’s undersea warfare. Both navies put submarines to effective
use as an offensive weapon; both performed miserably at finding and
sinking enemy submarines. A Royal Navy nuclear-powered attack submarine
made short work of the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano,
prompting the Argentine surface fleet to stay safely out of range for
the rest of the war. For their part, Royal Navy anti-submarine crews
were unable to reliably classify sonar or magnetic contacts, so they
“classified targets with ordnance.” That’s a fancy way of saying they
dropped anti-submarine munitions on anything with a signature remotely
resembling that of an Argentine boat. This ham-fisted approach had a
perverse strategic effect: it virtually exhausted the Royal Navy’s war
stock of antisubmarine weaponry at a time of surging tension in the Cold
War. The division of labor among NATO fleets assigned British mariners
the task of policing North Atlantic waters for Soviet craft. That was
hard to do once the Falklands campaign emptied Royal Navy warships’
weapons magazines. Lesson: antisubmarine warfare is hard even for the
world’s most advanced navies.

How will the PLA Navy and the shore-based arms of Chinese sea power
put such lessons to work in future conflicts? Savvy commanders might
strike at U.S. Navy reinforcements steaming westward across the Pacific
far from Asian coasts, wearing them down during their long voyage.
Argentina missed several opportunities to make things tough on the
oncoming British task force before it reached the theater. That China
would repeat this mistake is doubtful. Targeting logistics vessels
carrying supplies to U.S. carrier or amphibious groups, for instance,
would be a convenient way to disrupt any relief operation off Taiwan or
some other hotspot. These lumbering ships are few in number, carry token
defensive armament, and often cruise without protective escorts. They
would be easy pickings for Chinese submarines, let alone
multidirectional cruise-missile strikes of the kind Chinese rocketeers
envision. Take out the oilers, refrigeration ships, and ammunition
ships, and the fleet withers on the vine.

In short, as they consider how to pierce Chinese “anti-access” defenses,
U.S. strategists could do worse than investigate what pundits from the
“red team” are saying about the Falklands dispute – then and now.

James Holmes is an associate professor of strategy at the U.S.
Naval War College and co-editor of the forthcoming ‘Strategy in the
Second Nuclear Age’ (Georgetown University Press). The views voiced here
are his alone.

dilluns, 20 de febrer de 2012

The Amur Shipyard in Russia’s Far East has started the construction
of a new Steregushchy class corvette for the Russian Pacific Fleet, the
Khabarovsk Territory government said.

“A Steregushchy class corvette will be built for the Pacific Fleet,”
the Khabarovsk Territory government said in a statement on Friday. “It
will be delivered in 2015.”

The Gromky corvette is the sixth Steregushchy class vessel designed
by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau and second being built at the
Amur Shipyard.

Two corvettes of this class, the Steregushchy and the Soobrazitelny
have been already put into service with the Russian Navy, while three
others are under various stages of construction and trials.

The Steregushchy class corvette can be deployed to destroy enemy
surface ships, submarines and aircraft, and to provide artillery support
for beach landings. Advanced stealth technology is used to reduce the
ship's secondary radar field, as well as its acoustic, infrared,
magnetic and visual signatures.

Russia plans to have up to 30 vessels of this class to ensure the
protection of its coastal waters, as well as its oil and gas
transportation routes, especially in the Black and the Baltic seas.

divendres, 17 de febrer de 2012

A U.S. Navy warship rescues an Iranian fishing boat crew held by pirates Jan. 5

Monsoon
season in the Indian Ocean is set to end sometime in late February.
Somali pirates will take advantage of the calmer waters to enlarge their
presence in the area. But several factors -- including armed
contractors on commercial vessels, land-based security clampdowns and a
more sophisticated international military response -- may limit the
pirates' success.

Analysis

An
article from Somalia Report, a news agency specializing in Somali
affairs, has suggested that Somali pirates are readying their boats for
the end of monsoon season around Feb. 20, nearly coinciding with an
international conference to be held Feb. 23 in the United Kingdom on
Somalia and counterpiracy efforts. Indeed, calmer seas present greater
opportunity for hijackings and other piratic activities. Of course, Feb.
20 is merely an approximation, and meteorological phenomena like
monsoons may continue for weeks after this date. But soon the weather
will clear, and Somali pirates will embark on a new season of activity.

Every year from 2008 to 2011 Somali pirates expanded the areas in which they operated. But in 2011, their areas of operation contracted,
due in part to the increased use of armed guards on commercial vessels
and monitoring by anti-piracy naval forces. It is unclear whether this
trend will continue. So far in 2012, only one vessel and three fishing
boats have been hijacked by pirates, whereas eight commercial vessels
had been hijacked by this point last year. In any case, the end of
monsoon season invariably will give rise to an increased pirate presence
in the greater Indian Ocean basin. Whether this presence leads to
additional hijackings depends on a variety of factors.

In 2012, Somali pirates so far have favored the same ports as in the
past, particularly those between Harardhere in southern Somalia and
Bandar Bayla in northern Somalia. However, a new port known as Harfan,
located on a northern Somali peninsula that juts out into the Indian
Ocean toward Socotra Island, is gaining recognition as a port from which
pirates conduct their operations. According to reports, heightened
security in Haradhere, El-Dhanane and Garacad has led more than 100
pirates to relocate to Harfan in the past five months alone. Further
security clampdowns could lead to other alternative ports.

Already there is evidence that pirates are venturing outside their
traditional areas of operations. On Jan. 20, there was an attempted
hijacking of a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman. While Somali
pirates have occasionally operated in the area before, they have never
successfully hijacked a commercial vessel. Doing so would indicate their
expansion into a new area.

In our 2012 Piracy Annual,
we noted the relatively new trend that Somali pirates could begin
hijacking vessels within or just outside commercial ports, evidenced by
the August 2011 hijacking of the MV Fairchem Bogey within the Salalah,
Oman port limits. Already in 2012 we have seen another instance of this
trend. On Jan. 23, pirates attempted to hijack a commercial vessel just
outside the port of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

There is also evidence in 2012 of a tactical development in Somali
piracy not seen in recent years. In January, pirates who had boarded the
FV Shiuh Fu No. 1 cut off the captain's arm to convince the ship's
owners to pay a ransom. Typically, pirates eschew physical violence
against hostages; pirates are happy as long as they get paid. If such
violence becomes habitual, anti-piracy operations increasingly may be
carried out by various special operations forces -- though such
operations would be conducted only by the country of the abducted
individuals and if it has the intelligence to do so.

Such was the case in January, when U.S. Special Forces rescued
American Jessica Buchanan and her Danish co-captive. This demonstrated
how the U.S. military will respond to such incidents. (Notably, the
military had the requisite intelligence to act, and Buchanan's health
condition provided an added impetus for action.) Accordingly, pirates
may begin to house hostages on commercial vessels, given that vessels
are more difficult to raid than smaller skiffs or land-based facilities.

While the end of monsoon season will result in a larger presence of
pirate vessels, several factors may limit their successes. Armed
contractors continue to be used on commercial ships in 2012, and this
year no vessel carrying these contractors has been successfully
hijacked. Thus, we expect they will continue to be deployed in 2012. In
addition, the U.S. Navy reportedly is retrofitting the USS Ponce to be
used by special operations forces in the Central Command area of
operations, and anti-piracy operations fall into their purview.

Moreover, domestic Somali forces, including those of Galmudug and
Puntland, as well as the pro-Somali government Sufi militia Ahlu Sunnah
Waljamaah, have been arresting pirates in the regions they control. This
is an indication that land-based forces are also pressuring pirate
activity. Such measures may be more effective at reducing piracy over
the long term than arming merchant ships, but it remains to be seen if
this pressure on land can be sustained.

In the past Somali pirates have been adept at developing
countermeasures, so armed anti-piracy tactics alone may not bring about
an end to piracy off Somalia's waters. The end of the monsoon season may
embolden pirates to increase their presence, but it does not ensure
their success rate.

Nisida,
Naples 14 February 2012: During the night between the 13 and 14 February,
five NATO submarines slipped their moorings and disappeared into the
winter waters off Sicily. At the same time 12 surface vessels steamed
out to the exercise area to begin a complex game of cat and mouse which
will last until 24 February. Proud Manta 12, NATO’s largest annual
anti-submarine exercise, is underway.

“This year we have a very large contribution to this exercise
by Allied nations,” stated Vice Admiral Veri, Commander Maritime
Command Naples (MC Naples), during a media day held 13 February. “Surface
and sub-surface vessels, helicopters and planes are coming together
in an extremely complex and progressively difficult scenario.”
Admiral Veri also pointed out that Proud Manta 12 foresees the switching
of roles from hunter to hunted for all those participating with periods
of ‘free-play’ in which ships, planes and submarines will
use all their stealth, experience and equipment to hunt and neutralize
each other. He also took the opportunity to point out the continued
importance of the role of the submarine and the need for NATO to continue
to train for full interoperability in all aspects of submarine warfare.
He also stressed the established and verified importance of submarines
in surveillance and Special Forces operations.

Proud Manta
2012

This year’s event sees 15 helicopters and fixed-wing
airtcraft joining in the proceedings to include, for the first time,
Italian Eurofighters and Tornadoes posing a fast-attack air threat.

Rear Admiral James Foggo III, Commander Submarines, Allied Naval Forces
South, responding to a journalist’s question on the importance
of Proud Manta 12, put great emphasis on the training in interoperability
offered by the exercise. He pointed out that many of the personnel
and assets exercising were equally likely to find themselves operating
side-by-side in NATO-led operations where they could, for example,
find themselves combating piracy or terrorism. He also reminded those
present of the important maritime operations that NATO had carried
out in Mediterranean waters as part of Operation Unified Protector
in 2011.

A portion of the Proud Manta 12 surface fleet is made up of the ships
of Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) currently under the control
of MC Naples. Asked what role his ships would have in the exercise
Commodore Ben Bekkering (COMSNMG1) told journalists that, other than
offering strong competition to the submarines, his Group is an Immediate
Reaction Force and that he must be able to carry out the tasks that
the Exercise participants are being trained to do immediately upon
receiving orders from NATO.

This year’s Proud Manta also includes a growing role for the
NATO Underwater Research Centre (NURC) from La Spezia, Italy. Scientists
and technicians aboard the NATO Research Vessel Alliance are this
year sailing in the very midst of the exercise carrying out experiments
on detection and tracking using Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, testing
software, and using NATO-developed ‘gliders’ to better
understand the presence and behaviour of marine fauna.

dimarts, 14 de febrer de 2012

Drug smugglers and pirates pose a very
different threat to naval vessels compared to traditional enemy forces.
As a result, the rise of the offshore patrol vessel has seen smaller,
faster and more agile patrol vessels grow in importance and popularity.
Liam Stoker profiles five of the most popular and emerging offshore
patrol craft.

The rising number of incidents involving drug
smuggling and piracy has led to an increasing demand for patrol vessels
capable of fulfilling a variety of roles and operational requirements.

Capable
of operating in and around shallow water and littorals, offshore patrol
craft combine high cruise speeds with efficient armaments in order to
counter fast-moving and agile vessels used by pirates and drug
smugglers, while also providing an operating base for naval helicopters
and fast-moving deployable boats used by special forces.

Armidale Class patrol boat

Acquired to replace the Freemantle Class patrol vessels, Australia's fleet of Armidale Class
patrol boats are based in Darwin and Cairns, reserved for use in
surveillance, interception and escort missions, and were first
commissioned in December 2003.

The main tasks of the Armidale
Class vessels are to support civilian authorities in custom patrols and
measures against illegal immigration, both key tasks for Australian
authorities. Although the vessel's cruise speed is approximately 12kts,
two Zodiac waterjet boats can be stored on the stern deck, allowing
rapid deployment of additional forces.

Due to the nature of the
waters surrounding Australia, the Armidale Class vessels have been
designed to conduct surveillance missions in conditions up to sea state
five, with wave heights of up to 4m, whilst also being able to
successfully operate within cyclonic weather conditions.

In terms
of armament, the patrol boats come armed with a Rafael Typhoon 25mm
stabilised naval gun mount with an ATK Bushmaster cannon, whereas BAE
Systems Australia has provided the vessels with its passive radar
identification system (PRISM III) in order to provide detection and
direction finding capabilities.

Holland Class patrol vessels

Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding was tasked with constructing the Holland Class Patrol vessels in December 2007 as part of a €467.8m project to provide the Royal Netherlands Navy with four offshore patrol vessels.

Due
to be commissioned between 2011 and 2013, the Netherlands' fleet of
Holland Class patrol vessels have been designed to support international
task forces, aiding in anti-piracy missions and counter-drug missions,
while also operating as support ships during crisis relief. The Royal
Netherlands Navy will deploy the vessels to the Caribbean and North
Seas.

The vessel's broad platform provides stability in marine
seas and has been constructed using thick steel, reducing its tensile
strength but increasing the vessel's capability to resist the impact of
small-calibre weapons more commonly associated with anti-piracy
missions.

All armaments onboard the vessel, which include a 76mm
Oto Melara Super Rapid gun and a 20mm Oto Melara Marlin WS gun, can be
operated remotely, while the vessel also comes with a fully equipped
hangar capable of supporting an NH-90 helicopter.

Sentinel Class fast response cutter

Being constructed as part of the US Coast Guard's (USCG) Deepwater programme, Sentinel Class
patrol boats have been commissioned in order to address USCG patrol
gaps and assist in immigration and drug interdiction missions within the
Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

Following
the award of a $166.1m contract option in September 2010 for four
additional craft, the USCG's total order stood at eight vessels, worth
$410.7m, with the USCG planning to acquire a total of 58 patrol boats
within the vessel's operational expectancy.

A modified version of
the Damen Stan 4708 patrol vessel, the fast response cutter (FRC)
features a bow thruster for manoeuvring within narrow anchorages and
channels, underwater fins to resist rolling and pitching in large waves
and a Bushmaster 25mm chain-fed autocannon.

One particular
strength of the FRC is its versatility, with the vessels capable of
operating independently in a vast array of missions including coastal
security, marine environmental protection, search and rescue and
national-defence operations.

The vessels are also capable of remaining operational in sea state four, and can survive in sea state six.

L'Adroit offshore patrol vessel

France's L'Adroit offshore patrol vessel,
belonging to the Gowind Class of offshore patrol vessels, was launched
in May 2011 and was delivered to the French Navy in October 2011, having
successfully completed its sea trials two months prior. Although the
French Navy will carry out additional tests of its equipment and systems
until 2014, the ship is seen as vital to France's counter-piracy,
environmental protection and drug interdiction capabilities.

Capable
of providing 220 days of at-sea-availability each year, the L'Adroit
offers shelter for a 5t helicopter and a landing facility for a 10t
helicopter, as well as also carrying two rigid-hulled inflatable boats
(RHIB) for use by onboard forces. Fast commando boats can be covertly
deployed within five minutes and the vessel also has the capability of
launching naval UAVs.

The vessel can be equipped with both lethal
and non-lethal weapons. Whereas the main armaments of the L'Adroit
consist of a 20mm gun located on the foredeck and two 50 cal. machine
guns, the wings of the ship can be equipped with water cannons for
non-lethal dispersal of enemy ships.

M80 Stiletto

The future of offshore patrol could, however, lie in the design of the US next generation vessel - the M80 Stiletto.

Constructed
with carbon-fibre materials, the M80 posses a unique hull design
allowing the vessel to achieve speed, ride quality, payload capability
and provision for unmanned vehicle support that is currently unmatched
in the naval field.

The vessel, currently in field trials
conducted by the US Department of Defence, is designed for high-speed
military missions in shallow, littoral and near-shore waters. The
twin-M-hull vessel is capable of reaching speeds of up to 60kt, creating
an air cushion by recapturing the bow wave and using its energy in
order to produce less drag.

While also posing greater energy
efficiency, fleet costs are reduced due to higher reliability of
construction and maintenance, both sure to be increasingly attractive
for a navy forced to contend with budget restraints.

The M80 has
previously participated in Trident Warrior joint-force exercises and has
seen action in Colombia, participating in shallow-water drug
interdiction operations that resulted in the capture of 1,800lb of
cocaine.

dilluns, 13 de febrer de 2012

A Russian nuclear submarine which caught fire during repairs in the Arctic in December had its nuclear-tipped missiles and other weapons on board, the newspaper Kommersant Vlast reported on Monday.
The Yekaterinburg submarine was being repaired in a dry dock outside
the north-western city of Murmansk when wooden scaffolding next to it
caught fire and the flames spread to the craft on December 29. Nobody
was killed in the blaze which raged on for hours.The Defense Ministry said all weapons had been unloaded before the vessel entered the dock at the Roslyakovo shipyard.

Officials also said there had been no radiation leak from the Yekaterinburg, the Delta-IV-class nuclear submarine.But the newspaper Kommersant Vlast claimed on Monday the sub “was in the dock with torpedoes and missiles on board.”The Yekaterinburg, launched in 1984, can carry 16 intercontinental
ballistic missiles, each with four warheads, and 12 torpedoes.“For almost an entire day, Russia was on the verge of the worst anthropogenic catastrophe since Chernobyl,” the paper said. The explosion at a nuclear plant in Chernobyl in Ukraine in 1986 was the worst accident in the history of nuclear power.Weapons are normally removed from docked nuclear subs but the final decision often lies with commanders, the paper said.

Unloading can take up to two weeks, which can delay scheduled
maneuvers. This might result in disrupting Russia’s nuclear parity with
the United States, it said. The Yekaterinburg, or K-84, traveled to two missile depots in early January.“The only meaning of this move would be to unload the missiles and torpedoes onboard the K-84,” Kommersant Vlast said. The paper said it also had the evidence of “several independent sources in the leadership of the Navy and the Northern Fleet.”

The Obama administration recently announced plans to forward-deploy
some of the U.S. Navy’s new, lightly armed Littoral Combat Ships (LCS)
to the South China Sea. The news conjures up images from a century ago,
when the itinerant U.S. Asiatic Fleet lumbered from port to port,
patrolled Chinese rivers and strove to defend the PhilippineIslands.

This was no battle fleet, nor was it meant to be. It was an implement of diplomacy, plain and simple.

Properly
configured,an LCS flotilla would be a worthy successor to the Asiatic
Fleet. The 2007 Maritime Strategy, “A Cooperative Strategy for 21st
Century Seapower,” designates non-combat missions like
coalition-building and maritime security as “core capabilities” of the
U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. A latter-day Asiatic Fleet
could perform such functions admirably despite — indeed, because of —
its lack of combat punch.

That is, U.S. sailors could do their work without fanning paranoia — well, much paranoia — in nearby China.

Upheaval
in fin-de-siècle Asia warranted stationing a fleet in Far Eastern
waters. China’s Qing Dynasty tottered during the 19th century before
collapsing into civil strife in 1911. Predatory European and Japanese
empires seemed poised to divide the country among themselves, barring
competitors such as the U.S.

The
Asiatic Fleet’s first purpose was to keep order in China, chastening
warlords and other ne’er-do-wells menacing American citizens or trade.
It was adequate to this task. Few in China could resist the firepower of
even obsolescent men-of-war.

Its second purpose was to telegraph
resolve, upholding Washington’s “Open Door” policy in that beleaguered
land. Standing policy implored the imperial powers to keep all of China
open to commerce. The fleet was woefully unequal to guaranteeing U.S.
access against encroachment from the likes of Japan or Germany.

The faraway fleet would have been forced to dispatch reinforcements if the great powers slammed the “Open Door” shut.

A
motley assortment of warships constituted the Asiatic Fleet. Its
flagship was a heavy cruiser such as USS Augusta, once skippered by
Capt. Chester Nimitz, or USS Houston, immortalized by historian James
Hornfischer in “Ship of Ghosts.” The flagship’s entourage included
low-end combatants such as light cruisers, destroyers and gunboats.
Think USS San Pablo from the Steve McQueen film, “The Sand Pebbles.”

The
Imperial Japanese Navy made quick work of the Asiatic Fleet following
its December 1941 onslaughts on Hawaii and the Philippines. Crews fought
their ships valiantly, but in a foredoomed cause. That’s the usual
result when a fleet meant for non-combat missions encounters a fleet
meant for battle.

What do the life and death of the Asiatic Fleet
tell us? Historical similes are never exact. As Navy officials
contemplate maritime strategy in the South China Sea, they must
recognize important differences between Asia then and Asia now.

Then,
the U.S. Navy could use castoff ships to overawe a fractured Chinese
populace while brandishing the combined might of the Asiatic and Pacific
fleets to face down — for a time — external competitors. Today, the
dynamics have reversed. No longer does a power vacuum draw outsiders in.
Instead, a strong China is pressing outward, oftentimes at the expense
of U.S. allies like the Philippines.

Rather than fend off
rapacious outsiders, Washington intends to help friendly outsiders right
the regional balance vis-a-vis a strong central power. Geographically
speaking, U.S. strategy is more peripheral than it was during the
Asiatic Fleet’s heyday.

Then, Pacific Fleet reinforcements were
based too far away to backstop Far Eastern forces effectively in
wartime. Today, heavy Pacific Fleet forces reside in relatively nearby
Japan and Guam. They could move even closer if Washington negotiates
access to Australian seaports for U.S. Navy carrier or surface action
groups.

Then, outdated ships could accomplish U.S. goals. Today,
ships designated for overseas service remain modest in combat power, but
they’re brand-spanking new rather than retirement age. It will be
harder to consider an LCS contingent expendable in wartime than it was
to think of the Asiatic Fleet that way. Navy officials must fight the
temptation to pile defensive armaments onto the LCS or forward-deploy
frontline combatants to Southeast Asia for protection.

Lavish
improvements would discredit the LCS squadron in Chinese eyes. Such a
force will be valuable precisely because it can perform diplomatic and
constabulary missions alongside regional sea services — and because it
can do so without appearing to encircle and contain China. Stationing a
battle-worthy fleet in Southeast Asia could set in motion a mercurial,
escalatory cycle of American action and Chinese reaction.

The
chief lessons from Asiatic Fleet history: Keep diplomacy at the
forefront of the LCS squadron’s endeavors while arranging new basing
options should conflict threaten.

This phantom from the Navy’s past still renders good service.

James
Holmes is an associate professor of strategy at the Naval War College
and co-author of “Red Star over the Pacific: China’s Rise and the
Challenge to U.S. Maritime Strategy.” These views represent only those
of the author’s.

dimecres, 8 de febrer de 2012

The United States Navy will receive the
industries first 32 megajoule EM Railgun prototype and begin testing in
the coming weeks.

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) announced today that they will begin testing an advanced Electromagnetic Railgun (EMR)
within the next few weeks. The development and testing of this advanced
EMR is the result of a $21 million contract awarded to BAE Systems by
the Office of Naval Research roughly two years ago. For those that may
not know, the ONR is the office within the United States Department of
the Navy that facilitates all science and technology programs for the
U.S Navy and Marine Corps through various institutions, such as
universities and government laboratories.

While most munitions both heavy and small depend on chemical
propellants (like gunpowder), the EM Railgun launcher (as you may have
guessed from its name) utilizes magnetic energy instead. The EM Railgun
propels a conductive projectile along metal rails using a magnetic field
powered by electricity. The magnetic field produced by the high
electric currents thrusts a sliding metal conductor between two rails to
launch a projectile at velocities of 4,500 to 5,600 mph. By contrast,
the average velocity of a chemical propelled weapon is limited to about
2,700 give or take.

So what does that mean? Well, this increased velocity should allow
for the Navy to reach targets of up to 50 to 100 nautical miles away or,
if you’re inner sea-dog is a little rusty, about 57 to 115 miles out.
Navy planners hope to eventually increase that range even further to
distances up to 220 nautical miles (253 miles).

According to ONR, this increase velocity and extended range will give
sailors multi-mission capability, and allow them to conduct precise
naval surface fire support. In addition, ONR states that the EM Railgun
may provide effective ballistic missile defense.

BAE Systems EM Railgun was delivered to the Naval Surface Warfare
Center (NSWC) Dahlgren on January 30, 2012 and features a 32-megajoule
payload. To add some perspective, one megajoule of energy is equivalent
to a one ton car traveling at 100 miles per hour.

RIA Novosti military commentator Konstantin Bogdanov

While the nation’s leaders work at overhauling the Navy organization,
the Navy itself continues to order new ships. Last year’s persistent
scandals over nuclear submarine contracts proved a hard nut to crack
when assigning government contracts in 2011. For a time, the submarine
scandals confused the process for ordering surface ships. Meanwhile the
focus there is being shifted to the production of time tested projects
built around today’s armaments.

“Due to the lack of funding, the Navy has come close to a numerical
minimum required to fulfill its mission,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry
Rogozin said at a meeting with the heads of the Sevmash and Zvezdochka
shipyards, and the Navy command. The meeting was called to discuss the
development of Russia’s Navy.

The deputy prime minister said many ships are being used beyond their
service life and the Russian Navy needs urgent renovation. “The now
widespread practice of rebuilding and renovating the fleet ship by ship
to extend its service life has destroyed our production cooperation,”
Rogozin said.

Building quietly and stubbornly

Still, it’s inaccurate to say that only one-off vessels are being
constructed. Last Wednesday, two ships were laid down in St. Petersburg:
the Project 22350 Admiral Golovko frigate and the Project 20385
Gremyashchy corvette.

The Golovko is the third vessel in the Project 22350 class. The first
one – Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov – hit the water
in October 2010 and the second (Admiral of the Fleet Kasatonov) is
scheduled to be launched this year. The Gremyashchy is formally the
first Project 20385 ship, but it is a further development of Projects
20380 and 20381 corvettes, two of which have already joined the Baltic
Fleet, with one more undergoing trials and another under construction.
Current contracts provide for the building of eight Project 22350
frigates (including the Gorshkov and the Kasatonov) and eight Project
20385 corvettes (the Gremyashchy will be the first).

What are we building?

The Russian Navy is not obsessed with grand-scale projects or the “de
facto global standard” – strike groups of heavy ocean-going ships
deployed around nuclear aircraft carriers. Even at its height the Soviet
Union failed to live up to that standard with reasons ranging from
weaknesses in industry and ship repair facilities to the varying rants
of top military and defense industry leadership.

The Russian Navy orders simple and ordinary workhorses for the sea.
When a large number of ships was decommissioned in the 1990s (the
non-strategic portion), it left a big gap in the country’s naval forces.

The commissioning of single surface vessels for each main class (like
the Pyotr Veliky in 1996) did little to prevent the overall degradation
of Russia’s four fleets.

Project 20380/20385 corvettes (or more precisely, multi-role short
range escort vessels) are intended to close the gap in the coastal
defense forces.

Project 22350 frigates (multi-role offshore patrol vessels) are
believed to be the core of Russia’s new Navy now. In the early 2000s,
when this project was accepted as promising, the number of vessels to be
built was 30. It is difficult to appraise such Napoleonic plans, but
the approach has not changed: the volume of construction anticipated is
up to 20 units over the next 15 to 20 years.

Next in line is the development and construction of ocean-going
destroyers. A competition is currently under way for the best project.
These ships need to be large enough and well-armed. They will be in fact
missile cruisers rather than destroyers. The Navy is growing “from the
bottom up” as it tries out new directions and unifies the armaments on
its new vessels.

Roman Trotsenko, the head of United Shipbuilding Corporation, who
touts the new shipyards at Kotlin Island, regularly promotes the idea of
a nuclear aircraft carrier. The military is cautious: it says the State
Armaments Program till 2020 does not mention an aircraft carrier. Yet
it has launched a series of research and development projects just in
case to determine the role and place of such ships in the Navy of the
future.

Marine standard

The tendency of the Russian military to save costs and unify the
fleet’s missiles is worth a separate comment. In the Soviet days, the
Navy went on a spree of producing “unique” strike missile systems with
incompatible launchers and missiles. In each case the adoption of one or
another system was absolutely justified by tasks at hand. But it all
produced a monstrous zoo full of combat weapons in the Navy. The defense
industry, accustomed to spending freely, also lent a hand: sometimes
military experts, who were practically-minded, combined a new missile
with an old launcher. The result was self-evident.

Take, for example, the saga of Project 670 and 670M submarines, which
were to be equipped with one missile system (there were plans to arm
older submarines with the new Malakhit missile with an extended range).
The upshot, however, was that each project retained its original
armaments – until the boats were decommissioned in the early 1990s.

But times change and the money, not a lot even in the glorious era of
Fleet Admiral Sergei Gorshkov, came to an end. The concept of a
multi-purpose ship firing system became overriding: all ships in the
basic classes – including Projects 20385 and 22350 and their likely
cousins (ocean-going destroyers) – are now to be equipped this way.

In effect, it is a group of unified vertical launchers which offer a
wide range of configurations. A ship equipped with this multi-purpose
system can carry anti-ship Oniks cruise missiles or missiles from the
all-purpose Kalibr system (in three configurations: supersonic
anti-ship, subsonic for engaging ground targets and anti-submarine).
Future plans contemplate extending this armory by including
surface-to-air missiles, although for the time being the new system is
employed only in strike systems.

The West will help us

The delay in commissioning Project 22350 vessels (the first ship was
laid down in 2006) suggested a simple solution. It was decided that the
amount of time needed to start the construction Gorshkov class ships
could also be spent on a simultaneous commissioning of Project 1135.7
frigates.

This frigate is a very interesting ship. It is based on Project
1135.6 – a distant descendant of Soviet Project 1135 patrol ships
developed for the Indian Navy (known as Talwar-type frigates). The
Baltic shipyard has already delivered the first three vessels of this
class to India. Three more are under construction at the Yantar shipyard
in Kaliningrad.

The Russian Navy, which badly needs new ships, has requested a
“domestic” version of the Talwar, code-named 1135.7 instead. The
projects turned out to be so similar that many systems adopted for the
1135.7 turned out to be systems developed for overseas customers and
until recently they lacked the authorization for use in the Russian
Armed Forces.

The Russian Navy has now placed orders for six Project 1135.7
frigates with Yantar. Two of them are already laid down: the Admiral
Grigorovich in December 2010 and the Admiral Essen in July 2011. For
2012, plans call for the start of two or three more ships, and one or
two in 2013.

But the feeling is that six frigates are not the limit: Project 22350
is costly and needs to be brought up to date. The current brass, badly
shaken by the 1990s disaster, is holding to the maxim: “If it works,
don’t fix it.” So if the 1135.7 is accepted by the Navy, a large series
will be built – perhaps in an upgraded configuration.

This will be the Russian surface fleet for the 21st century:
tight-fisted, pragmatic and knowing its limits. Public opinion seems
abashed to see its military in this light – but it will have to get used
to it.

The Portsmouth-based Type 42 warship was
acting as Fleet Escort as she followed a carrier-led Russian task group
from the Channel off south-west England to the seas off south west
Ireland.

Liverpool’s Commanding Officer, Commander Colin Williams, said:

“As an island nation it is essential for the UK to maintain a military presence in our waters.

“HMS Liverpool is well-placed to carry out this duty after her
extremely successful Operation Ellamy and NATO contributions off Libya
last year.”

In December the Portsmouth-based
destroyer HMS York was sent to shadow the Kuznetsov group as it sailed
south from Russia – the closest that a Russian naval task group had been
to the United Kingdom in 20 years.

After a handover from the French
warship Le Henaff, Liverpool established her position between the UK and
the Russian Task Group, shadowing them as they progressed north past
Land’s End, then Ireland. The Task Group of two warships and five
support ships are making their way home to the Northern and Baltic
Fleets of the Russian Navy.

Liverpool is due to decommission at
the end of March but has already gone through a maintenance period in
Portsmouth and a visit to London, where thousands of members of the
public stepped aboard. On leaving London she was activated as Fleet
Ready Escort.

When her escort duty finishes HMS
Liverpool will conduct training exercises in the UK and Norway, before a
final visit to her home town of Liverpool. She decommissions on March
30 in Portsmouth.

Navantia has commissioned the naval ship BAM 'Relámpago' for the
Spanish Navy, in a ceremony presided by Pedro Morenés, the minister of
defence.

The ceremony has also been attended by the CEO of
Navantia, Luis Cacho, the chief of the navy, Manuel Rebollo, and other
naval and political representatives, including defence attachés of other
countries such as South Africa, Turkey and Australia.

BAM
'Relámpago' is the third OPV of an initial series of four that Navantia
is building for the Spanish Navy. The first two units, 'Meteoro' and
'Rayo', were commissioned in July and October 2011.

BAM is a
moderately sized, high performance ship with great versatility regarding
missions. It enjoys a high level of system commonality with other
Spanish Navy ships and has low acquisition and life cycle costs.

diumenge, 5 de febrer de 2012

Quantum key distribution technology could
enable submarines to communicate securely both at depth and speed.
Berenice Baker investigates how rapid underwater communication can be
achieved at a level of secrecy protected by the very laws of physics
themselves.

Submarine communication challenges

Submarine communication is restricted by
the depth at which vessels can exchange information and the speed at
which they can do so through the medium of water.

Recently
however, researchers have made impressive strides in solving this
dilemma using a technique called Quantum Key Distribution (QKD).

QKD
promises to guarantee secure communication through the principles of
quantum mechanics, without sacrificing speed or forcing the submarine to
rise nearer the surface.

For a submarine to retain all its
tactical advantage, it must remain submerged in the mixed layer, which
is around 60 to 100 metres deep, below which surface sonars cannot
detect them. Submarine communications are currently carried out while
submerged using ELF or VLF radio waves because only very low or
extremely low frequencies can penetrate the water at those depths.

Using
ELF and VLF presents a number of disadvantages, however. The
transmission sites have to be very large, meaning the submarine must tow
cumbersome antenna cables, plus it usually has to align on a specific
orientation and reduce speed to obtain optimal reception.

The VLF
and ELF frequencies only offer a very low bandwidth: VLF supports a few
hundred bits a second while ELF sustains just a few bits each minute.
This prevents the transmission of complex data such as video.

One
potential solution is to carry out optical communications using a laser,
a concept which has been around since the 1980s when experiments were
carried out to demonstrate that it is possible to maintain an optical
channel between a submarine and an airborne platform.

The Quantum
Technologies group at defence technology specialist ITT Exelis is
looking at taking this a step further through research into the
feasibility of laser optical communication between a submarine and a
satellite or an airborne platform, secured by using quantum information.

The
work ITT Exelis carries out for the US Government includes research in a
wide variety of quantum information topics, including the development
of quantum algorithms, quantum sensors and novel solutions for quantum
communication systems.

Perfectly secure keys

Dr. Marco
Lanzagorta, the director of the Quantum Technologies group in the
Information Systems department of ITT Exelis, explains that QKD is a
protocol which uses quantum information to generate a pair of perfectly
secure keys.

"Quantum information is different from classical
information, because in classical information the unit is the bit and it
can have the value of zero or one," said Lanzagorta. "The unit of
quantum information is the qubit, which is a quantum state of a photon.
It can be on zero, one or any superposition of zero and one. It's more
of a concept of information than the classical one."

Quantum
information has two important properties for securing communications. It
cannot be copied which means it cannot be forged, and every time a
quantum state is measured by an observer it gets collapsed, which means
its properties are very difficult to detect.

Combined in QKD,
these properties can be used to generate perfectly secure keys because
the secrecy of the keys is guaranteed by the laws of physics.

Lanzagorta
explains that in traditional cryptosystems - such as the public domain
system RSA, Diffie-Hellman and ElGamal encryption methods - the security
is based on the solution to a very hard mathematical problem.

However,
there is no formal proof that this mathematical problem, for example
prime factorisation in the case of RSA, could not be broken by an
advanced algorithm. It has also been conjectured that hypothetical
quantum computers could break these types of ciphers exponentially
faster. Hence QKD would offer an unbeatably secure solution.

Optical communication

The
technology for QKD already exists and is commercially available but it
is currently carried out through an optical fibre, rather than photons
travelling freely through air or water.

"Some
experiments have been done on QKD using photons moving in free space,"
said Lanzagorta. "Most recently an experiment was done in the Canary
Islands where they did first base QKD at a distance of 144km, showing it
is feasible to have this free space quantum communication.

"Other
work has been done on connecting a ground site with a satellite
platform, but we're working not on a ground platform but on one that is
submerged in the water."

In addition to the challenges of
transmitting photons through water and free air, the researchers need to
establish a laser link between the transmitter and a receiver on a
satellite or airborne platform.

This is currently being tackled by a QinetiQ North America team which is developing a specialist tracking system.

Once
the optical link between the submarine and the satellite is
established, the ITT Exelis researchers' work takes over, investigating
how to enable the QKD protocol to secure communications. This is done
using a photosensor working in what is known as the Geiger mode, which
effectively means it counts photons which arrive in a certain
polarisation.

"For the transmission of quantum information, you
need something that will polarise the photons, so the quantum state will
be in a given basis, and to have a filter that detects this in the
transmitter and receiver," said Lanzagorta.

"You cannot use
regular lasers as you need specialist photon lasers, which is like a
very diluted laser. These send one photon at a time and each photon has a
well-determined quantum state."

Feasibility studies

The next
stage for the programme will see the US Naval Research Lab carry out a
series of experiments to establish how well a photon's quantum state is
preserved as it travels through water to verify the accuracy of ITT
Exelis' theoretical feasibility study.

If the experiments support
the theoretical model and the research moves on to the next stage, an
experimental prototype could be in place within five years. However, a
number of factors are at play with such a radical new approach.

"It's not only a scientific technological question but also has to do with funding levels and politics," claimed Lanzagorta.

However,
if the powers that be do see it through, the benefits could be
substantial. The proposed system could potentially deliver perfectly
secure transmission, the highest level of security available, at rates
of up to 170kb a second, which is around 600 times more bandwidth than
current VLF systems are capable of, easily coping with complex data such
as video.

Additionally, there would be no loss of operational
efficiency or stealth for the submarine itself, as in principle it would
not have to slow down, remain at depths of less than 100m or change
orientation to exchange data.

These factors would be addressed by
the transmitting laser and receiving system part of the solution, which
is being tackled by QinetiQ.

However, the entire success depends
on how travelling through water affects the photon. "The biggest
challenge is to see what is the best way to send the single photon
pulses in such a way that the quantum state is protected even if it
travels through water," said Lanzagorta. "We need to find a way to do
some sort of encoding, like error correction encoding, that protects the
quantum state of the photon so we can have a larger range of
operations."